Aunt Carrie’s – Narragansett, Rhode Island

This spot has a long history here on the Rhode Island shore. Been here since the 20’s, owned by the same family, so the must be doing something right. That thing is definitely the baked goods. Fresh baked bread and pies that were all to die for, and I tried an awful lot of them. Started with my first try of a clam fritter, or as I call them, fry balls, a specialty of the house. I don’t think I really get these things, fried batter with barely any noticeable clams, and you salt them, with vinegar, as our host, an expert on all things Rhode Island explained. Then I got a basket of homemade cinnamon roll bread, curiously, served with margarine. Do people still eat margarine? It was Land O’Lakes, but still. Amazing bread, it was all I could do to save a little room for my lobster roll and dessert, of course.

So, for the lobster roll, you have choice of hot or cold and homemade bread or not. Eh, the bread choice was obviously a no brainer, why have non-homebaked when you can have homebaked. I figured that out when the giant sandwich arrived. The homebaked bread option is a sandwich with giant slabs of tasty, fresh bread. Delicious, but makes for a very unwieldy eating experience. Jan, our host, ordered the non-homeade option, she’s clearly “in the know”. The plain hot dog bun might not have tasted as good, but looked much easier to eat. Ken and I ordered one hot and one cold. I saw little difference between the two, they really appeared exactly the same. The hot was a little warmer, and the mayo had some mayo. Superfluous lettuce on both and the hot had a side of melted butter. I asked the waiter if the lobster meat for the roll was cooked and picked in-house and he unconvincingly told me that “everything’s fresh”. Hmm, well maybe everything is fresh, but that doesn’t mean it was made here, the hot dog bun wasn’t. The meat was all claw, no tail (always a sign to me that it was likely not cooked and picked in-house), minimal spongies and not bad flavor. The hot version was just hard to handle and kept falling out due to the nakedness of the meat. I happen to think that naked meat can only be pulled off if you are using uncut meat, a la Red’s. Even then, it’s kind of annoying because you can’t dip a lobster roll in butter like it’s a french dip roast beef sandwich. The innards all falls out and you end up pouring butter all over your hand. If I wanted to make a mess of myself, a whole lobster is the right answer.

I wanted to like this lobster roll a lot more than I did. But, the bread was everything I dreamed it could be, just not right for a lobster roll. I think they should try making a hot dog bun with their great bread. When I go back again, I’m going to stuff my face with bread and order a whole lobster. Then eat a ton of dessert. If you have never had Indian Pudding, try it, like grits meets molasses cookie, with ice cream. Aunt Carrie’s Indian Pudding is great.

Here are a couple of Rhode Island Restaurants for you to try Lobster Rolls , both in the Same Town, Westerly. The Sea Goose, on US 1 , same owner as the Cooked Goose in Watch Hill ( part of Westerly ) . This place serves both Hot and Cold Lobster Rolls, and killer Clam Chowder.

The Other is the Ocean House in Watch Hill. Although the “Ohouse” is really very expensive there is a reason why Travel and Leisure recently named it the Best Hotel in America , as well as the 5th Best Hotel in the World, and that is the location, Beautiful Views of the Ocean, along with lots of fresh local seafood.